You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only 1
by Psycho Babble
Summary: Dreams are sometimes thought to bring messages to the dreamer, but what if the dreamer could decipher her dreams; dreams that are based on real events.
1. Prologue

The song 'Imagine' belongs to John Lennon. The character Icegirl/The Dreamer belongs to me.  
  
*********  
  
Imagine there's no heaven,  
  
It's easy if you try,  
  
No hell below us,  
  
Above us only sky,  
  
Imagine all the people  
  
Living for today...  
  
*********  
  
My life was a living dream once, or nightmare, however you want to look at it. I've had these dreams for as long as I can remember, dreams, or as the Oracle calls them 'visions', of things that I don't really understand. A huge war between humans and machines, a world where the sky had been blackened, where the remnants of the human race lived underground and used ships the kind of which I'd never seen before, but worst of all were the fields; miles and miles of what looked like some kind of warped tree, from which grew pods and inside those bubble like thing where human babies and in the distance were huge towers with pods that had millions of humans suspended in some kind of fluid. These people lived out their lives in a dream world, ignorant to what was really happening to them. I can remember it as if it was yesterday, going to see the Oracle. I don't know how I found her; all I knew was that I had to, that she was the only one who could help me understand what it was that I was dreaming about. I had dreams of her to, a kind lady who liked to bake. I waited outside the door of her apartment, until a woman let me in. I sat in a chair just inside the doorway, after a few moments I was joined by two other people, an Asian teenager and a woman. But I paid little attention to them; I had a dream the night before about the war again, only this time I had seen the pain and misery that the machines had caused humans.  
  
*********  
  
Imagine there's no countries,  
  
It isn't hard to do,  
  
Nothing to kill or die for,  
  
No religion too,  
  
Imagine all the people  
  
Living life in peace...  
  
*********  
  
((Ghost's POV))  
  
I hadn't been out of the Matrix long when Niobe took me to see the Oracle, who or what this Oracle was I didn't know and Niobe told me nothing. We were directed to sit just inside the door. There was already one person there, a small girl, her hair was snow white and there was a haunted look about her, like she had seen things that a child her age should not have. Her eyes held the terrified look of someone that's being hunted and knows that their not going to get away and that they will die. It was only then that I realised that she was staring back at me, silver eyes met mine and I could not turn away.  
  
"We all have out burdens, Ghost of the Logos." She whispered. I blinked and shook my head.  
  
"How do you know my name?" I asked her.  
  
"I know many things. Some of which I would rather not." The last sentence was almost a wistful sigh.  
  
"Are you the Oracle?" I queried. At that she laughed, but not in a way that implied she actually found it funny, more like she was laughing because she was finding something in my words that she didn't like.  
  
"No, I am a dreamer." She said, in an ironic tone of voice that most people don't get until they reach their early teens.  
  
"Well the world needs more dreamers." I said.  
  
"Not with the kind of dreams I have." She mumbled under her breath. Then one of the Oracles aids came back out and told me that it was time for me to speak to the Oracle.  
  
After the Oracle was finished she gave me a small cake and I rejoined Niobe. The girl was still waiting patiently in the chair. Niobe stood up as soon as I came out, she slipped her glasses back on, I followed her to the door, looking back once at the child.  
  
"Tell the crew of the Hammer that I'll see them soon, Ghost." She said to me, then she grinned slightly.  
  
"I would wish you luck, but you're not going to need it." I closed the door softly behind me.  
  
*********  
  
Imagine no possessions,  
  
I wonder if you can,  
  
No need for greed or hunger,  
  
A brotherhood of man,  
  
Imagine all the people  
  
Sharing all the world...  
  
*********  
  
((Icegirls POV))  
  
Ghost had been in my dreams as well, but he had been older. I looked up as the Oracles Aid came back for me.  
  
"She'll see you now." She said. I nodded and stood up, heading into the kitchen. She was sitting at the table and she glanced up as I came in a welcoming smile on her face.  
  
"Hello, Ice. I've been waiting for you." She said. I walked over to her, not quite sure what I was supposed to do, but she reached out and pulled me into a hug. I had never been hugged before; it was kind of nice.  
  
"I know all about your dreams. Don't worry, in time they will make sense to you as well. You will be staying here for now, with me."  
  
"I know, it's not time for me. Some say that I am a dreamer, that I have a very active imagination. But I don't, do I? Everything I see is real, has been or it will be?" I said. She nodded and smiled.  
  
"People don't understand what they cannot see and touch themselves. But we will work on it. This is Seraph, he will help to teach you some things that you need to know." She said. I looked at the man who had silently entered the room.  
  
"Teach me what?" I asked, a little scared.  
  
"You will see, but you need to know these things."  
  
*********  
  
You may say I'm a dreamer,  
  
But I'm not the only one,  
  
I hope some day you'll join us,  
  
And the world will live as one.  
  
********* 


	2. part 1

Approx. eighteen years later.  
  
Seraph circled me slowly, as I watched him closely. Both of us were sparring and as usually he seemed to be winning, he darted behind me and I felt this whisper light slap to my back.  
  
"Come on, Ice. You can do better than this. Hit me." He said. What the hell do you think I've been trying to do for the last thirteen years? I thought to myself. But I said nothing out loud, I set myself again, but before we could start again we were interrupted by one of the Oracles aids.  
  
"They are here." She said. I nodded, I didn't need to ask for an explanation, and I knew whom she was referring to. I followed her off the roof and back to the Oracles apartment, the apartment was mostly empty except for the Oracle, two men  
  
"Ice, it is time for you to go." The Oracle said to me.  
  
"I know." Then I turned my attention to the dark haired man.  
  
"Captain Davon." I looked to the Oracle confused.  
  
"But this is wrong, it's not supposed to be him."  
  
"There are some things that must happen before you go where you must." She said. I went to the Oracle and hugged her goodbye and then much to his surprise I hugged Seraph as well.  
  
"Are we ready to go now?" Davon asked. I nodded and smiled brightly at him.  
  
"Of course, just saying goodbye." I waved to the Oracle and Seraph as I followed Ajax out of the building to start my life in a new world. A car was parked at the curb and the blonde man got behind the wheel, Ajax riding shotgun and I sat in the back. We rode in silence all the way back to a deserted house, inside they had set up various equipment. Davon held out his hands one with a blue pill, the other with a red pill. I picked up the red one and swallowed it without water, he stared at me.  
  
"After bringing me all the way here you offer me the blue pill as well?" I asked.  
  
"You had to be given the choice." He replied.  
  
"Sometimes choices are made for us before we even know that there is a choice." I said. He looked baffled at what I said, which wasn't really surprising.  
  
"Take a seat." He pointed at a wooden chair that sat in the middle of the room, after I sat down he put electrode pads on me.  
  
"Have we got anything yet, Titan?" He asked. The blonde man; Titan shook his head. Davon flipped open his phone.  
  
"Crale, hurry up and get the signal." He said into it. A few moments later I felt a weird sensation, like I was being pulled towards something, but I wasn't moving. Distantly I heard Davon shouting Crales name. Then I woke up in a pod, surrounded by red liquid. Wires sticking out of me and something stuck in my throat, I tried to yank it free, but before I could a machine shaped like a bug appeared before me. It pulled the spike from the back of my head and I was flushed down some kind of pipe, I felt the tube in my throat being ripped out painfully. I landed in a huge pool of ice cold water, I struggled to stay afloat, but I knew it was a hopeless battle, slowly I sank below the surface. I felt something grab me and lift me out of the water, above me I could see one of those ships that I had dreamed about. I couldn't breathe and after a few moments I must have passed out.  
  
I opened my eyes to bright light and the sound of feet walking by me. Davon, or someone that looked a lot like him bent over me.  
  
"I was beginning to think you'd never wake up." He said. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out, in fact my throat hurt like nothing I ever felt before.  
  
"Relax. You need to rest. Everything will be okay." He said. My body agreed with him and I fell asleep again.  
  
The next time I woke up I was in some other room, a needle stuck in one of the plugs in my arm. I hated needles; quickly I pulled it out and dropped it on the floor. Stepping over it I made my way to the door. Where do I go from here? I wondered. As soon as I got out the door I saw the light at the end of a long corridor and up a ladder, into a large room. A man sat at a bank of computer monitors, as I came up he turned around.  
  
"Captain, she's awake." He called. Davon appeared from behind the monitors, he smiled when he saw me  
  
"Dreamer, you slept well?" He asked.  
  
"I think so. And call me Icegirl, or Ice, I don't like Dreamer." I told him. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms, they kept it cold on the ship, or perhaps that was just me.  
  
"We will call you Dreamer." Davon said testily. Fine, call me whatever the fuck you want. I know who I am. I thought. He turned to the guy at the monitors.  
  
"This is Crale, our operator." Crale looked up briefly and nodded a hello.  
  
"And you've already met Titan." The tall blonde man who never seemed to speak. He lifted one hand in greeting.  
  
"I think that you're ready."  
  
"Ready for what?" I asked.  
  
"The truth. Take a seat." He went over to one of the chairs that looked more like it belonged in a dental surgery than it did on a ship. I sat down and he strapped my feet and hands down, putting his hand on my forehead he held my head down.  
  
"This will hurt, but you get used to it." He said. I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and my mouth opened in a silent scream. Then I was in what looked like a white room. A few moments later Davon was with me, dressed as he had been in the Matrix.  
  
"This is the construct." He said, gesturing with his hand. Here we can load whatever it is we need; she remembered that from a dream. Suddenly the construct changed to a huge city.  
  
"This is the world that you've known, the world you believe is real." The view changed again, blackened sky, and ruined buildings.  
  
"This is what's real. We created AI. Humans have always been the top hunters, and when the machines rebelled against us we destroyed most of them. Then we tried to prove what good predators we were, but we are no longer at the top of the food chain. There was a great war between man and machine, obviously we did not win. Humans blackened the sky, for the machines were dependent upon solar energy to stay alive. But after the war they found a new power source. And as long as they have people in the Matrix we will never be free." He said. Then everything changed to the fields.  
  
"All we are now is fuel for their fires. They grow us, and then implant us into the Matrix. Make us believe that we are free, that we run our own lives. But in fact we have no control over what happens to us." He paused again. Ice blue eyes calmly met his dark brown ones.  
  
"Are you listening to me?" He asked.  
  
"Yes." I replied.  
  
"You're taking this a lot better than most people do, better than I did." He said.  
  
"Freaking out isn't really going to change anything, is it? Of course if it makes you feel better I can panic." I offered, smiling slightly.  
  
"You're not telling me anything I don't already know."  
  
"What do you mean?" He asked.  
  
"The fields, the scorched sky, the war between man and machine, I know all about them already. Why do you think they call me the Dreamer? I have the 'pleasure' of seeing things that have happened, are happening, or are yet to happen."  
  
"You mean that you can see the future? That's not possible."  
  
"Really? I could let you in on some of the things that I've seen and pretty soon you'd believe me."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Now that would be telling. Some things you're meant to know, some things you aren't."  
  
"Okay. Crale, load the agent training program." He said. A moment later we were on what looked like a normal city street. People shoving past us on their way to nowhere. After that he left me plugged into a darkened construct, where I could see or hear nothing.  
  
"It's time for you to start your training. Titan, we're going to see the Oracle. Crale, load us up." He said when he finally let me out.  
  
"No, you have to wa-" I said. He ignored me, which I didn't take to much offence to; in fact I had been half expecting him to do something like this. I waited for Crale to start loading up various different programs into me. After I while I just sat there, after one was finished Crale would instantly load the next one. I had been waiting for the next program to load and after a few moments of nothing happening I opened my eyes. Crale lay on the floor, one of the monitors gouting small flames, which even as I watched died down and another of them sputtering fitfully. I moved to go help him before I remembered I was strapped in the chair. I sat back down and relaxed, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths, then forcefully yanked one arm forward breaking the hold of the restraint. I unsnapped the other one and reached back and pulled the spike from my head. I moved over to Crale, checking for a pulse. He was still alive, but I couldn't wake him. I heard a phone ringing from his headset, and I put it over my own ears.  
  
"How the hell do I answer this thing?" I wondered aloud. I hit the return key first figuring it was my best bet, to my surprise it worked.  
  
"Crale, we need an exit." Davon's voice came through.  
  
"Crale is unconscious." I said.  
  
"What happened?" He asked.  
  
"I don't know, I was training." I said.  
  
"Shit! We need an exit, Dreamer." He said. And I'm supposed to do what exactly...? I wondered.  
  
"How do I do that?" I sat in the chair by the monitors.  
  
"You pull up a map from the database and then-"  
  
"I only know a little about computers." I interrupted him. Yeah, if knowing a 'little' was just about knowing where the on/off switch is. I thought. This was greeted by a moment of silence.  
  
"Okay. This is what I want you to do, there should be a code taped to the bottom of the keyboard. Ask for any ship near to where we are, quoting that code. If and when someone responds all you have to do is speak into the headset, tell them what's happened. Do you understand?" He said. I nodded, then realised he couldn't see me.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Make it fast, Dreamer, we have agents on us." He hung up. I picked up the keyboard and turned it upside down, I pulled the piece of paper off and righted the keyboard again. I quickly tapped in the letters and numbers. What am I supposed to do now? I thought.  
  
"This is the Hammer we hear you. What is your problem?" Someone asked. Thank God, I thought.  
  
"We have two people in the Matrix, the operator is unconscious. What should I do?" I asked him.  
  
"Can you set up an exit for them?" He asked.  
  
"I don't know how." I replied. There was a pause for a moment and then another voice came on.  
  
"Who is this?" This guys voice sounded older, gruffer.  
  
"Icegirl, Ice."  
  
"What ship are you on, Ice?"  
  
"Uhh...I don't know, he never told me."  
  
"Who is your captain?" I was about to answer when another of the monitors blew up in my face, I went flying backwards. And I lost the headset; I hit my head on the wall, which finally brought me to a stop. I was back on my feet and looking for the headset when the lights went out. Great, just what I need. I thought. I got down on my hands and knees and crawled along looking for the headset, I eventually found it and pulled it back on, which hurt my head even more.  
  
"I'm on the Vengence." I said.  
  
"I thought you said you didn't know."  
  
"I didn't until one of the monitors blew up in my face and threw me into a plaque on the wall that has 'Vengence' written on it." Then a frightening thought came to me, I could hear the monitors humming, but I couldn't see them. Even though the room was dark I should have been able to see them; I pushed it to the back of my mind. I tone sounding from somewhere.  
  
"What is that, Ice?"  
  
"I don't know. Can't see anything, lights went off."  
  
"Where are you now?" He asked.  
  
"I don't know." I said. He was probably beginning to wonder if I did know anything.  
  
"Go up to the cockpit and tell me what the navigation says."  
  
"I can't."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I don't know where the cockpit is, and even if you told me I probably wouldn't be able to find it anyway, there are no lights, remember?" There was silence and he was obviously telling someone to do something.  
  
"Okay, we know where you are we're on our way. We should be there within in the hour." He told me. I sat down on the floor, in one of the meditation poses that Seraph had thought me. How long I was like that I don't know, but I was interrupted by the sound of banging and feet on the floor near me. I turned my head in the direction of the sound.  
  
"Ice?" A male voice asked.  
  
"Yes. Why didn't you bring any lights?" I asked. There was a long silence and I felt someone come over to me and cool hands on my face, as they wrapped something around my head.  
  
"We did. The lights didn't go off, Ice. Your eyes must have been injured." A female voice said.  
  
"Oh, okay. Thanks, Maggie." I said. Then Maggie moved away, after a few seconds I heard her speaking again.  
  
"Titan's gone, Captain."  
  
"He said something about agents being after them. What are agents, Captain Roland?" I asked.  
  
"How do you know my name and Maggies?" The gruff voice that I now knew to be Roland asked.  
  
"You ever hear of the dreamer?"  
  
"That's just a myth."  
  
"Why the hell didn't someone tell me that?" I asked sarcastically. Then I sighed inwardly; Seraph had spent most of his time trying to show me that my temper would have to be kept in check.  
  
"Sorry, this was not exactly how I planned on spending my first fully conscious day here."  
  
"I should have known that." Roland said.  
  
"Got him, Captain." Someone said.  
  
"What the hell happened here?!" Davon snapped.  
  
"We don't know that yet. Looks like some of the monitors blew up on Crale, and then on Ice." Roland told him.  
  
"Shit!" He said.  
  
"What's going on, Davon?" Roland interrupted.  
  
"I went to see the Oracle. She told me some things about Dreamer and what she can do." He stopped speaking and the next time I heard him he was right next to me.  
  
"You knew this was going to happen?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then why the hell didn't you warn us?!"  
  
"Do you remember just before you went in? I told you to wait, you wouldn't listen to me."  
  
"You could have told me what was going to happen. Now Titan is dead.  
  
"I know he is. I doubt if you would have listened to me anyway."  
  
"You don't know that."  
  
"Really? If I told you before you went in that you would run into four agents that something was going to happen to Crale to prevent Titan from getting out in time. Would you have believed me?" There was silence and I knew that he probably wouldn't have believed me and that a part of him still didn't.  
  
"Titan was shot in the left shoulder, he told you to keep going and that he would stay back and give you as much time as he could. They killed him though, one of the agents broke his neck."  
  
"How do you know that?"  
  
"You know how." I felt hands grab me around the throat and lift me bodily into the air.  
  
"Davon put her down!" I heard Roland shout. Then his hands were pulled away from me and I dropped to the floor.  
  
"This little bitch killed Titan." Davon said angrily. I shook my head, as I stood up and faced in the direction I thought he was in.  
  
"As I recall I wasn't in the Matrix at all. So how can I have killed him?" I asked calmly.  
  
"Can you start back to Zion on your own, Davon?" Roland asked.  
  
"If I can borrow some of your crew, sure." Davon replied.  
  
"That's not a problem. Let's get moving, we don't want to get caught by any sentinels." Roland ordered.  
  
"There's one other thing, Roland. The Oracle told me that Dreamer was to be transferred to your ship."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"She said that if she isn't on the Hammer then all could be lost."  
  
"Okay, fine." Roland snapped.  
  
"I don't want her here anymore anyway." Davon said.  
  
"Come on." This from a pissed off sounding Roland. I stayed where I was; I had no idea where he was, how to get off the main deck, how to do anything without seeing.  
  
"Come on, I'll help you." AK said. He took my hand and put it on his arm, then walked in what was obviously the right direction. When we got to the ladder he went down first, guiding my feet and then helping me when I got my feet back on the floor.  
  
"Welcome to the Mjolnir, or the Hammer." AK said after a while. 


	3. part 2

*********  
  
I am the person you passed on the street this morning  
  
You looked at me but never saw the way I felt  
  
I turned my head away hoping that you wouldn't notice  
  
Did you even notice me as I walked by?  
  
*********  
  
As it turned out there was nothing wrong with my eyes as such but there was some sort of chemical in them that once cleaned out properly allowed my eyes to heal. I have no doubt I looked a little strange for a while. I continued the training programs and as always I had more dreams, some of them repeats of ones I'd had before. Before I even finished training Roland took me through the agent training program. He walked ahead of me.  
  
"They are all our enemies. Unless they've been unplugged." He stopped and turned around so suddenly that I almost walked into him.  
  
"Are you listening to me, or are you watching the clowns." A troupe of clowns had just passed us, to be honest I hadn't even noticed them, I was to busy trying to figure out what I had done wrong the last time.  
  
"Take another look." He directed. I turned to stare down the barrel of a desert eagle. Without even stopping to think I whirled, grabbed Rolands arm and ran, dragging him along behind me as if he were a rag doll in the hands of a child. I leaped over the fountain; or tried to, instead I went splashing into it, and Roland landed on top of me. We both came up gasping for air, and the look on his face was almost comical. He pulled out his phone, and flipped it open then he tossed it over his shoulder back into the water. He looked up at the sky.  
  
"AK, get us out of here." He said. A moment later we were back on the Hammer, AK unplugging us.  
  
"What the hell did you do that for?" He asked.  
  
"Because I don't really want to spend more time in a darkened contrust where there's no sound. Do you?"  
  
"What are you talking about?" He said.  
  
"When I ran through this program with Davon I turned around to find myself staring at a gun in the hands of an agent. Obviously I did something wrong, I figured that just running was a better bet than what I did last time."  
  
"What did you do the last time?"  
  
"I punched him, the agent I mean. Then I ran." AK snorted a laugh, but stopped when Roland gave him a look.  
  
"You said something about being made to stay in the construct. What was that about?" Roland asked.  
  
"I have no idea. Davon didn't tell me, and I didn't get the chance to ask, because that was when they went to see the Oracle." I replied. Roland look at AK and then they both turned to look at me. At which point I felt remarakably like a lab animal. They didn't say anything though and after a while I went back to my room.  
  
(Few days later)  
  
And then something happened and many people would probably not understand why I didn't say anything. Roland and Colt were in the Matrix at the time when it happened, so they saw, so did AK who was watching the Matrix. When they came out Roland turned on me angrily.  
  
"You knew that was going to happen, didn't you?" He snapped.  
  
"Yes." I replied no point in denying it.  
  
"My office, now." He strode of in that direction, me following behind him.  
  
"Why didn't you say anything?" He asked.  
  
"Would you have believed me?"  
  
"That seems to be what you say to everything! Just tell me why you didn't tell anyone you knew this was going to happen." He said. I sat down in the chair opposite his desk and let out a long sigh, before I finally met his eyes.  
  
"Do you think this is easy for me? No, it's not. Let me share a little secret with you. I go to sleep at night and I dream, I see things that are all jumbled together. From that I have to sort out what is just a 'dream' and what's real. I have to figure out what has already happened, is happening or has yet to happen. And then I have to decide what it is that's meant to happen and what isn't and can be prevented, or at least changed around enough that the end result is not the same as what I see." I narrowed my eyes at him.  
  
"Some things are meant to happen, this was one of them."  
  
"More than two thousand people died. You're telling me that they were meant to?"  
  
"That is exactly what I'm telling you. It's not easy accepting these things, but we have to."  
  
"You could have stopped this from ever happening!" He growled. I raised my head and looked right at him.  
  
"I'm not some kind of god where I can just run out and save everyone. Do you think that would be a good thing?"  
  
"It would be better than all this death."  
  
"Okay, let me put it to you this way. If I was all power full, I could go back in time and stop the war from ever happening. In fact why stop there, I'll go back and stop people from creating AI in the first place. No AI no war, right?"  
  
"Where are you going with this?"  
  
"If there were no AI and no war. In fact why not go all the way, I'll go back and stop anyone from building AI in the first place. Yes, if I tried hard enough I could probably stop all bad things from happening." I paused.  
  
"Of course then we'd have to think about what would happen if I did do that. Without AI or the war, how would we be here? Would we even exist?" I could see a muscle popping in his jaw as he considered my words.  
  
"You're right. It's just hard to accept that much death." He said.  
  
"I know." I said. Imagine what it's like for me to see and hear it? I thought. But said nothing out loud. After a moment I stood up and left his office, heading for the mess hall. Colt and AK were already sitting at the long table.  
  
"Why didn't you tell us?" Colt asked. I swung one leg over the bench and sat down next to AK, I dug my spork into the food and swallowed, taking my time before answering.  
  
"Because it wouldn't have mattered anyway."  
  
"How can you be so sure."  
  
"I am. I've been seeing this stuff long enough to know what I can do about, I also know when I to stand back and let things run as they were meant to."  
  
"You're beginning to sound like a machine."  
  
"Your insults need a little work." I told him calmly, swallowing another mouthful. He stood up suddenly.  
  
"You wouldn't know what an insult was, living all your life with the Oracle." He grinned across at me.  
  
"I suppose now you're going to tell me that you knew I was going to say that."  
  
"Nope. I am going to say that you're acting like a five year old though."  
  
"You're one cold, unfeeling bitch, aintcha?" He leaped across the table at me. I let him drive us both to the floor, before touching his face lightly and only for a second or two. He reeled away from me.  
  
"Jesus Christ! What did you do to me?!" He yelled. I stared him down calmly.  
  
"What did you do to him?" AK asked.  
  
"Gave him one of my dreams. Or to be more specific, the dream of those planes crashing into the towers." I walked over to Colt.  
  
*********  
  
It has been here for what feels an eternity  
  
I saw the way you looked at me,  
  
The way you shared my pain,  
  
How was I to know what was going to happen?  
  
*********  
  
"Take a look and see what I see, Colt. If I am an 'unfeeling bitch' it is because I have to be." I was surprised when my voice actually came out sounding compassionate. I knew what he was going through, had these dreams myself often enough.  
  
"Not as much fun as you thought it was, is it?" I asked. He was slowly coming around again, and when he looked at me it was with a new understanding in his eyes.  
  
"How do you put up with them?"  
  
"I don't have much choice in the matter. I put up with it because I have to. I'm sure that if I don't seem to behave like you think I should, you'll forgive me, sometimes I have other things on my mind."  
  
"I can see why." He said, before walking out. I sat back down and continued eating.  
  
"Can you do that to anyone?" AK asked.  
  
"Yes." I replied.  
  
"I want you to do it to me." He said.  
  
"No."  
  
"I want to know what it is you see."  
  
"No, you don't."  
  
"How do you know that I don't?" He asked.  
  
"Because I know what it is I see, and believe me you don't want that." I replied. He shook his head.  
  
"How can you say whether I do or don't want to know?" He asked. I looked up at him through narrowed eyes, then laughed mirthlessly. I swung around to face him.  
  
"Let me tell you some of what I see in these dreams." I paused to gather my thoughts, then went on.  
  
"I've had dreams from everything to people getting married to people dying. But we'll go with what happened today. I saw that happening, people in those towers as the planes crashed into them. Some of them made it out, yes. Those left inside were burned or crushed to death, I can hear their screams of pain as they try to get out and know that they won't make it. They know they're going to die, but they still try to get out." I stopped speaking long enough to see if I had gotten through to him.  
  
"Perhaps you'd prefer to know a little about the war. Or as I like to call it 'Graphic History'. They can be educational as well as entertaining, if you're into watching pain and suffering. They blew people and machines up, cut them open and then leave them to bleed to death as they move onto the next person. And then of course is how they discovered that they could use us for energy. They kept us alive and drilled holes in our bodies and heads, while we were still conscious. They didn't much care how many they killed to get what they wanted, after all they had as many people as they could ever want and they knew how to breed more if they needed them. Adults, kids didn't matter, the point was that they needed power and they were willing to go to any lengths to get it. Wouldn't be so bad if I had picture and no sound. I can hear their screams, as they're tortured, begging for help from those who are in the same position as themselves and can no more help their own children as they can themselves. And then they spend the rest of their lives as batteries. Of course they eventually go insane from the agony they're in, but that's to be expected." I stopped when I saw the look on his face.  
  
"Still so sure you want to know about my dreams?" I asked. He shook his head almost violently.  
  
"No, I think that what you told me is enough."  
  
"That's what I thought you'd say."  
  
"How do you..."  
  
"Stay sane?" At his answering nod  
  
"Like I just told Colt, I don't have any choice." I said. Everyone has their own burdens in life and this is mine. I thought. That didn't make me like it any more.  
  
"Ready to get on with it?" He asked. I nodded and we stood up heading to the main deck where he plugged me in again.  
  
(Second Person POV)  
  
AK jumped onto the seat and instantly started loading up the last number of martial art programs. Then he sat back and watched, there wasn't really much else for him to do. After about half an hour and trying to load the same program twice. Her eyes opened but she seemed to be staring at nothing and when she started speaking AK jumped.  
  
"He won't. Goddamn it, Morpheus, you ain't never gonna change. Shit, I'll do it, just to see what Deadbolt does to you. You got 36 hours." She said. AK stared at her for a moment.  
  
"Captain, you better get up here."  
  
"What is it, AK?" Roland asked.  
  
"I...uh...don't really know, sir." AK answered. A while later Roland arrived on the main deck.  
  
"What's going on?" He asked. AK looked at him from where he stood over Icegirl.  
  
"I don't know, it's like she's having a conversation that a number of different people are having, but she's doing all the talking." He replied, even as he answered she started speaking again.  
  
"These geotherms confirm the last transmission of the Osiris. The machines are digging. They're boring from the surface straight down to Zion. Mutha... They'll avoid the entire perimeter defense. How fast are they moving? Control estimates their descent at a hundred meters an hour. Shit. How deep are they? Almost two thousand meters. What about the scans from the Osiris? They can't be accurate. They may be. What? It's not possible. That'd mean there are a quarter of a million sentinels out there. That's right. That can't be. Why not? A sentinel for every man, woman, and child in Zion. That sounds exactly like the thinking of a machine to me. Morpheus, glad you could join us. Niobe. My apologies to all. As you are undoubtedly aware, it has become increasingly difficult to locate a secure broadcast position. Squiddies got all our best spots. Mainlines are crawling with them. And if Niobe's right, in 72 hours there's gonna be a quarter of a million more. What are we gonna do about it? We're gonna do what Commander Lock ordered us to do. We'll evacuate broadcast level and return to Zion. And does the Commander have a plan for stopping 250,000 sentinels? A strategy is still being formulated. I'm sure it is. What do you think we should do, Morpheus? I think we should proceed as ordered, however... What is it? Neo: I don't know. I must ask one of you for help. Some of you believe as I believe. Some of you do not. But those of you that do, know we are nearing the end of our struggle. The prophecy will be fulfilled soon, but before it can be, the Oracle must be consulted. If we return and recharge now, we can be back with inside 36 hours. Well before the machines have reached this depth. Do you understand what you're asking? I am asking that one ship remain here in our place just in case that the Oracle should attempt to contact us. Bullshit, you're asking for one of us to disobey a direct order. That's right, I am. But we well know that the reason most of us are here is because of our affinity for disobedience. And what happens when you get back to Zion and the Commander throws you in the stockade? He won't. Goddamn it, Morpheus, you ain't never gonna change. Shit, I'll do it, just to see wha..." she stopped talking and blinked a few times. She looked from AK to Roland.  
  
*********  
  
Did you see the pain in my eyes?  
  
The pain I tried to hide  
  
How many times did I go over that last conversation?  
  
The last time we spoke we argued,  
  
*********  
  
"What happened?" She asked. Both Roland and AK were silent for a few moments.  
  
"You were...dreaming out loud." Roland finally said.  
  
"Which one was it this time?" She asked, as AK unplugged her.  
  
"Something about geotherms, the Osiris. You mentioned two captains; Morpheus and Niobe." Roland told her. She nodded, standing up.  
  
"The captains meeting."  
  
"What?"  
  
"That's what I call it, had that dream before."  
  
"When did that happen?"  
  
"It hasn't, not yet."  
  
"How do you know that?"  
  
"Do you remember having been a part of that conversation?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then it hasn't happened yet, because you are there for it." She told him. Both AK and Roland stared at her for a moment.  
  
"When does it happen?"  
  
"I don't know that, I'm still working on it."  
  
"It would help if we knew when this happens, you mentioned something about machines digging down to Zion. If we knew when it was going to happen we could be better prepared for it."  
  
"I know that. Why do you think it's the one dream that I actually work the hardest on?" She snapped back, a little irritably.  
  
"I'm going to get some sleep." With that she walked away. AK watched her go.  
  
"I don't want you to mention this 'dream' of hers to anyone else. Do you understand, AK?" Roland said.  
  
"Yes, sir." AK said.  
  
*********  
  
We fought over something so small and insignificant  
  
How many times have I prayed for that morning to come again?  
  
To get the chance to make amends  
  
To tell you how much you really mean  
  
I'm sorry, I love you I didn't mean to fight with you  
  
********* 


	4. part 4

Thanx to Scarlet Faerie for letting me use her poem 'Screaming'.  
  
*********  
  
As my soul tears I feel the rain fall  
  
Drowning me in a world of chaos  
  
This is the last time I scream  
  
The last time I look upon the wretched dawn  
  
*********  
  
I lay on the bed, one arm slung over my eyes. I knew that I was supposed to be up on the main deck, getting yet more training, this time in hand to hand combat. I had a dream last night that I have not had before, and now I'm trying to sort out in my head what I should do about it. I've lain here for long enough, I get up and go to the captains' office, knocking softly on the door.  
  
"Come in." His voice comes through the door. I turn the wheel and push the door open stepping inside and closing it quietly behind me. I wait for him to look up from the papers he is studying.  
  
"Ice, what is it?" He asks.  
  
"You are planning to go into the Matrix today." I say.  
  
"How did you know about that?" He asks.  
  
"One of my dreams." I reply.  
  
"Yes, we are."  
  
"Then there is something you need to know. If you bring Stahl with you he will die." I say. He sits back in his chair and I know he his seriously considering my words.  
  
"You know this for sure?" He asks me.  
  
"Yes, he will be shot in the back, a through and through wound. It will sever his spinal cord just below his neck."  
  
"Is there any other way to stop this?" He asks. I shake my head.  
  
"I don't know. All I do know for certain is that he will die, if you replace him with someone else they may die in his place. If you don't bring him with you then someone else may die in his place." I say.  
  
"What would you do?" He asks.  
  
"That's why I told you about it. I do not know what to do, or even if anything can be done. The question that you need to answer now is 'who are you willing to lose instead of Stahl?'" I say. I turn to leave and then turn back to him.  
  
"No one said these decisions were easy. Every decision we make has a consequence." I then leave him alone with his own thoughts and go up to the main deck. You're thinking that I'm heartless, that I do not care about others. You could not be further from the truth. But like I told AK and Colt yesterday, I cannot afford to let personal feelings get in the way, to do that would mean insanity for me and I cannot let that happen.  
  
"You're late." AK says to me when I arrive.  
  
"I know. I'm sorry. Shall we get started then?" I ask him. I sit down and he comes over to plug me in. Moments later information is flooding through my head. First off hand to hand when someone else has a weapon, blocks, traps, strikes. This stuff would have been useful when I'd decided to go for street fighting a few years ago. I had bee fourteen when I first tried that, got my ass kicked first few times, but with time I had gotten better. And then one day Seraph had followed and caught me in the act, I hadn't been allowed to go back again. I had been very good though, I knew that. Most of what I was learning was martial arts hand to hand though, street fighting is a little more to the point. Basically in street fighting there are no rules, you hit first or you go down, it's as simple as that. Then AK started loading me up against computer enemies. I don't know how many levels there were, but he started me out at the lowest level. After beating the level fifth one I looked up at the ceiling.  
  
*********  
  
Can no one hear me?  
  
Can no one hear my dying heart?  
  
*********  
  
"Come on, AK. Give me a bit of a challenge at least." I said.  
  
"Level fifteen?" He asked.  
  
"Load it up and we'll see." I told him. Then I was in what looked like a long, dark corridor, pillars running the length of both sides.  
  
"Nice shirt." AK says. I looked down at my black jeans and a red T-shirt with green words saying 'I'm totally sane, the voices in my head told me so'.  
  
"I got bored of gray." I told him.  
  
"There are weapons in there somewhere. You just have to find them." AK says.  
  
"Don't need them." Then I start moving quietly down the corridor, hands held loosely at my side. I can see the shadow on the wall, it isn't mine. A woman comes out from behind one of the pillars, nunchukas in both hands, she whirls them and moves to strike, I drop to one knee and slam my fist into her stomach, she falls back, dropping one of her weapons and I move in on her a roundhouse kick and she disappears into nothingness. I continue on, before I get very far a man comes at me this time he has a katana sword in his hands. I hold my ground until he's right in front of me and swinging the sword down at my head, I halt the blade between my hands and then with a quick movement I snap it in two. I take a quick step back and plunge the broken end of the blade into his chest and he to joins the woman.  
  
"Good work. Next level?" AK asks.  
  
"Sure." I answer. This time it's a city street, people are walking past me and I know any one of them could be a potential enemy. One of the people, dressed in a smart business suit points a glock at my head, I reach out and grab his hand, forcing it back on him then pull the trigger twice. Before he even disappears another one arrives, this time a man in a chef's outfit he holds a meat cleaver, or at least I think that's what it is. He stabs at my chest, when I reach to grab him though he moves back out of my way. Now it's getting interesting. I think to myself. I follow him, but don't move to close, he comes at me again and this time I grab his hand squeezing his wrist until he drops the cleaver, then I smash my other hand into his face. After that AK loads up more levels, each one tougher than the one before it. After a while though he brings me back out, I give him a mock look of dismay.  
  
"Aww I wanted to do more." I tell him. He shakes his head and grins down at me.  
  
"That was the last one. How about two of you go in?" He asks. It's then that I see the captain standing behind him.  
  
"Why not." I reply. Roland takes one of the dentists-chairs-thingy and AK plugs him in. We're back in the same hallway that I was in before. Roland stands beside me in a dark suit and wine colored tie. I'm dressed in the same jeans and T-shirt, but wearing a denim jacket over it.  
  
*********  
  
With every life taken it blackens  
  
With every light put out it drags me down  
  
*********  
  
"There are various different programs in this one, as well as agents. There one stash of weapons here somewhere, AK moves it around every few minutes so it might be hard to find. One rule, if you get shot you are automatically jacked out." Roland tells me.  
  
"Okay, are we meant to be fighting to-" before I can finish the question someone fires a gun at us and we are forced to split up anyway. I didn't know who was shooting at us, probably an agent I figured. I landed on my feet and ran down the corridor, using the pillars as shields from whoever was shooting at me and ran right into the chef and his cleaver; I kicked him in the stomach and grabbed his cleaver slashing it down across his chest. Before he even disappeared I turned, cleaver still in my hand, I could see Roland on the far side, moving between the pillars. The agent or whomever it was shooting at him now, I looked back along the path where he'd come from, where the person shooting was. I had been right it had been an agent, I stepped out from behind the pillar and raised the hand with the cleaver, which I was now holding between thumb and forefinger, sighting carefully I threw it at the agent and he disappeared in a green shower of code. I duck back behind my pillar, bits of it coming off as someone else started shooting at me. Ahead I can see a long table with various different weapons laid out on it, I run the full length and just as I reach it the table starts to disappear, I throw myself across the table and a few guns fall of it, a colt rifle, a shotgun, a deagle and two usp pistols, as well as having scattered ammo for them. I snatch up one of the usps and hold it in my right hand, as I gather up the others with my left hand. I tuck the deagle and both usps into the waistband of my jeans, and hold the colt in my other hand; I pick up the shotgun as well, even though I don't really know how to use it very well. Someone starts shooting at me again, but I can't see from where. I press myself up against the pillar, across the way I can see Roland fighting two of the programs, I put down the shotgun, drop to one knee and aim carefully with the colt. Pulling the trigger one of the programs fall, I turn to aim at the other one, but Roland takes him out before I have the chance. I move to slide the shotgun across to him and it skids across the floor, as he turns I can feel the cold metal of a gun pressed up against the back of my head, I freeze.  
  
"Well at least you watched your partners back. But who watches yours?" A voice asked. Instead of answering I drop to the floor, one hand going for the pistols in my jeans, I yank out the usp and press it into the stomach of the agent who had been about to shoot me. I pull the trigger and he falls backwards.  
  
"I do." I answer. Roland helped me up off the floor.  
  
"Get us out of here, AK." He said. Then AK was pulling the plug out of the back of my head.  
  
"Good work. But you should have been more careful." Roland sits up on the edge of his chair. I shrug.  
  
"I'm still alive aren't I?" I ask.  
  
"Yes, but if that was a real agent he would just pull the trigger without saying that stuff. That program is to show how well you can work with someone else, if you can be counted on to cover their back when they need it. You did that very well, but you forgot about yourself in the process." He said.  
  
"Yeah, I know that. The agent said that at least I guarded my partners back, but why weren't you watching mine?" She asked one eyebrow raised in question. He shook his head and laughed a little at that.  
  
"Good point, maybe I did get a little caught up in my own fights." Roland said. Then he turned to AK.  
  
"What's your opinion?" He asked. AK's eyes slid over to Ice, then back to Roland.  
  
"She's good, and I mean very good. She ran through the combat practice programs better than anyone I've seen. And she's very good at handweapons, I don't just mean guns, but knives, nunchukas, sais you name it. I think you've got your back covered, captain." AK said.  
  
"Good, we'll be going in a few minutes, get them up here." Roland told AK. A few moments later Colt and Stahl had arrived on the main deck. Roland didn't mention my dream to either of them just informed them of the basics of this mission and then they went in. I hovered behind AK, knowing that Stahl was going to die and not really wanting to be there, and yet another part of me knew that I couldn't leave.  
  
"So they're going to try and make contact with someone who we're going to wake up?" I asked him.  
  
"Yep, a fourteen year old kid, we don't know whether he'll take the red pill or not. It's always like that." AK told me.  
  
"How many times have people taken the blue pill?" I asked.  
  
"A few times, four I think since I started as operator here three years ago." He replied. He sat back in his chair for a moment.  
  
"Now we just have to wait until the captain tells us to-shit!" He hit the keys rapidly.  
  
"The kid turned into an agent, captain...Yeah I'm ready for you." He said. I turned away from AK, knowing that the time for Stahl's death was getting closer. Stahl would be the last one out, he was more skilled with guns than Colt was, and as he turned to answer the phone he would be shot. I could remember the dream as vividly as when I had it last night. I had been standing in the same room as the phone, watching first Colt, then Roland escape back here to the real world, and then Stahl reaching for the phone and the bullet slamming into his back and out the front of his chest, spraying his blood across my face as he slowly collapsed, he didn't die straight away of course. But I could see the agent bending over him.  
  
"You are finally dead, Mr Reese." The agent had said to him. I came back to reality as AK cursed loudly again, and I knew that Stahl was dead. I pulled the plug from the back of Rolands head and he stared up at me, I nodded ever so slightly to tell him that yes; Stahl was dead.  
  
"Goddammit!" He says.  
  
"Some things are meant to happen." I tell him.  
  
"Doesn't make it right." He says.  
  
"I never said I liked it." I whisper, he barely hears me, but I think he understands what I mean now.  
  
*********  
  
Happiness never existed  
  
And hope faded long before life began  
  
Now I only wish to sleep forever  
  
And find eternal peace  
  
********* 


End file.
